114 - Power, Providence, and Personality: Biblical Insight into Life and Ministry

Power, Providence, and Personality: Biblical Insight into Life and Ministry

By Walter Brueggemann

Louisville, Westminster/John Knox, 1990. pp. 117. $8.95.

Through the prism of Samuel texts focusing on David, the author deftly explores the inter-relations of three factors in the historical process: the struggle for social power; the agency of a gifted personality; and, in and through both, the hidden/manifest, patient/abrupt working of providence. Affirming the complementarity of sociology, psychology, and theology, he warns of distortions that arise when any one is ignored, let alone two. Thus, while deeply informed by social-material readings of history, he does not slight the significance of the "great individual." Likewise, in his exposition, providence does not nullify human structures and agencies, but works transformingly in and through them for the general good. The way is open, then, to view monarchy as first resisted, then patiently and abruptly criticized, and eventually transformed into a vehicle for individual, social, and cosmic redemption in Jesus Messiah.

The book is ideal for those seeking to train their imaginations in the Bible so as to read our times in terms of the interplay of power, personality and providence.

J. Gerald Janzen, Christian Theological Seminary, Indianapolis, Ind.